Groups such as failed asylum seekers, frail elderly people, and people with serious mental illness may be excluded from access to health care if the government's proposals for identity cards with information about the bearer's right to public services, including the NHS, are introduced in the United Kingdom, the BMA has warned.

The BMA's statement was a response to a report of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee published last week that gave broad backing to the government's plans to introduce identity cards, claiming they …